Drive Match: Three cars for the driving you actually do

Car buying goes wrong when the car is bought for the fantasy rather than the Tuesday. Drive Match asks what the car has to do, how much you will spend and how you like a car to feel, and ranks twenty-six cars we would buy against that. It is honest about the ones that are only good on Sundays.

Twenty-six cars from a Mazda MX-5 to a Bentley Continental GT, new or nearly new in 2026, with indicative prices. Character scores for comfort, sharpness, practicality and touring ability were set by the editors after driving them. Test drive the three over a real distance before you decide.

Questions we get asked

Why no lap times or horsepower?

Because they do not predict whether you will enjoy the car on a wet Tuesday. Weight, steering, seats and range do.

New or used prices?

New list prices where the car is in production, fair prices for a two- to three-year-old example where new is unrealistic. Leasing changes the arithmetic; ask a dealer.

What if I want a manual?

Say so and the tool weights the cars that offer one. Fewer do every year, which is the subject of a story in the Motoring department.

Read on

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